… went the headline way back in 1988, an earlier insider trading season. Having covered oodles of more recently imprisoned Wharton grads on this blog, my question is: Is the Wharton school criminogenic? Does it take nice boys (they’re all boys) and make them naughty? Or is it (as UD suspects) simply notorious for being the go-to place to learn how to be a financial crook and to make, er, connections with other people along these lines? Just put WHARTON in my search engine for a sample of these amazing high-flyers! I’m thinking that if you’re not planning to defraud at the very least a thousand investors, you’re not going to bother applying to Wharton. I’m thinking that if you’re not planning to steal in the tens of millions you’re not going to bother with the application fee.

Dear UD,
As one of the few WG (1975)to peruse your blog, thought that I would respond. I believe our program is a tocsin bell on trends.
I went to Wharton, because getting a PHD in diplomatic history at one of the Ivies was starting to look very sketchy. Many of my classmates were in the same boat. Also, at the time, WG was the first Ivy MBA program to recruit at the seven sisters schools. We had an unusually strong class academically.

Most of us were trying to get our union cards punched so we could get a decent job at a major corporation. We were looking for interesting work in cities with decent amenities and good restaurants. Gordon Gekkos we were not. We didn’t even know what a bond trader was and Wall Street was not hiring heavily in that era. Amusing, I soon became a mortgage backed securities trader.

Your post reminded me of an unusually telling incident.

In the summer of 1974, I was taking a management course from an intutor who had been a heavyweight at ARCO and under secretary of the Navy. In our mid twenties, we were full of ourselves. After one lecture, a number of us surrounded the professor and one student asked him, You’ve been associated with this program for a long time. Over the years, what has impressed you the most about Wharton?

He looked dumbfounded for a second, then his eyes twinkled and he smiled wryly. He said, “The fact that no one from here has done any time……yet.”